Low Recoil Ammo

[02roadster]

Is the so-called "Low Recoil" ammo reliable for home defense and are there any downsides to this type of ammo. Specifically in 9mm Luger. Wife is going to take NRA Basic Pistol in March thought she might benefit from a lghter load.

 

[Indy_Guy_77]

I'm not sure there are any factory "low recoil" 9mm loads....

Sure - there are some factory ammo that's loaded rather mild compared to others, and there are some defensive ammo that's really hot-rodded...

But unless you want to develop your own light load, Winchester White Box and/or Remington UMC are probably the "lightest" factory loads out there for 9mm.

That said - low recoil is somewhat subjective, too. A hot rod load out of a full sized all steel gun may feel lower recoil than a cream puff target load out of an itty bitty polymer gun.

All in all, though - you want your defense ammo to WORK. Defensive ammo has been engineered to work (ie - get enough penetration / expansion) at certain velocities. Some things NEED the velocity (giving stout recoil) to work well. Some get by with slightly less.

If you find yourself recoil shy - all I can say is to practice more until you're used to it. Also - in a real SD situation - you won't notice the recoil. You'll be to hopped up on an adrenaline dump to notice.

 

[looney2ns]

147gr 9mm will have less recoil then 115gr.

 

[Broom_jm]

147gr 9mm will have less recoil then 115gr.

It has been the observation of some that 147gr loads "push" while 115gr loads are "snappy". Scientifically, this is the difference between recoil energy and recoil momentum.

Load both down to where the action just barely cycles, and the 115 grain loads will absolutely have less recoil than the heavier bullets.

 

[2A_Tom]

For a basic course and familiarization I definitely recommend Winchester white box.
At some point your wife needs to practice with what she needs in a gun fight.

That said, I Love Remington's reduced recoil 12ga. It is loaded slug-00-slug-00-slug in my HD shotgun.